City man killed in front of famous bakery

TRENTON — A Trenton man was killed in broad daylight after he was chased by two suspects Thursday afternoon, according to witnesses and police.

He was shot around 12:30 p.m. on Hudson Avenue and Ditmar Alley off Hamilton Avenue in what Police Director Ralph Rivera Jr. characterized as “a known drug-infested area.”

The victim, whom The Trentonian is not releasing the identity of until his family is notified by authorities, ran from two suspects toward the first block of Butler Street and collapsed in front of the Italian Peoples Bakery.

“All of the shooting took place on Hudson and Ditmar,” Lt. Mark Kieffer said. “He collapsed in front of the bakery.”

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Rivera said the victim was well known to the TPD.

“He was not an innocent bystander,” Rivera said. “It’s a tragic incident, but it’s the lifestyle he lived.”

Witnesses reported hearing five shots. An employee from the bakery stepped outside to try and tend to the victim.

“When I saw him, he was unresponsive, he only twitched a couple times,” the employee that stood over Nance, who declined to give his name said. “I couldn’t tell where he had been shot, even when the paramedics ripped off his shirt, there was no blood.”

Inside the bakery, employees were angry about how violence in the city has made its way to their doorstep and how it could adversely affect the business going forward.

Witnesses described the suspects as two black males who were both wearing jeans. One was a dark-skinned man roughly 6’ wearing a white shirt with black sleeves, the other was a 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10 light-skinned man in a black shirt. The TPD’s Det. Brian Egan and Det. Robery McNally from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office are investigating the murder.

Anyone with information regarding the homicide can call the Trenton Police confidential tipline at (609) 989-3663 or the Crime Stoppers tipline at (609) 278-8477.

Those wishing to text a tip regarding the homicide can send a message labeled TCSTIPS to Trenton Crime Stoppers at 274637.